


The Comforts of Home

by RocknVaughn



Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Episode 7, Episode Tag, F/M, Missing Scene, Past Character Death, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-20
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-16 06:18:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4614423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RocknVaughn/pseuds/RocknVaughn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Whilst the Elster family waited to discover Max's fate, Mattie Hawkins was determined to make Leo as comfortable as possible in her home. </p><p>But when she inadvertently intrudes upon a heartbreakingly vulnerable moment for the normally stoic, enigmatic young man, can Mattie provide him with the kind of comfort Leo really needs?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be a one-shot.  
> Really it was! *pinky swears*
> 
> In any event, this story will only be two parts, three tops if the plot bunnies go haywire whilst writing. 
> 
> This story is meant to be sweet and touching rather than hot and heavy (in case any of you were wondering after the summary). 
> 
> Hopefully, you'll like it. Thanks for reading! <3

~*~

 

Mattie looked up as she crossed the threshold and stepped into the family room with a tray full of food for Leo. He was still curled into the corner of the sofa, a hand resting protectively over his injured side and sporting a scowl and an aura that all but screamed, _Leave me alone!_

Still, Mattie wasn’t about to back down now. Leo could be as much of a grouch as he wanted, but at least he wouldn’t be grouchy and starving.

“Thought you might be hungry,” she said as she set the tray down before him and retrieved her cup of tea from it.

Without so much as a by your leave, Leo scooped up the tray and began to spoon stew into his mouth with a fervour that made Mattie wonder when he’d had his last meal.

She settled herself on the sofa opposite and watched him for a moment. It occurred to Mattie that in addition to home-cooked meals, there were probably many other creature comforts that Leo had forgone for some time. Perhaps she could help with that, too.

“There’s some towels in the landing cupboard… We can chuck your clothes in the wash,” she offered in what she felt was a non-confrontational tone.

Not that it helped. Leo glared at her from beneath a curtain of wavy fringe. “You know, just because you’ve seen—” he pointed at the side of his head, “—in here, doesn’t mean that you know me, all right?”

Despite being rather used to Leo’s outbursts by now, that one still stung. “Trying to get to…” she admitted softly.

Leo sighed and stirred his spoon in the bowl as if perhaps he regretted snapping at her but didn’t know how to say so.

Mattie tried to engage Leo in conversation again. “So, you really can’t forget? That’s handy.”

At least this time, Leo looked directly at her as he explained with a sharp edge to his voice, “It’s the opposite. We need to be able to forget; to fade the bad, perfect the good. But my memory is the good and the bad; everyone is crystal clear and we’re not built for that, emotionally.”

A wave of guilt swamped Mattie at the thought of the horrible memories that Leo must have, ones that he showed her and the ones that he didn’t, and wished she’d never pushed him for an explanation.

“And I made you show me. Sorry,” she said, looking away from his piercing blue eyes that always seemed battle-worn and mentally-weary. She wondered at that moment if he hunched his back due to the physical pain or if it was a habit from carrying the weight of the world (or at least the weight of his family’s legacy) on his shoulders.

Mattie’s eyes were drawn back to Leo’s face as he spoke, and this time his voice was hesitant. “Maybe…” he confessed, “I needed to show someone.”

Their gaze held for several long moments before Leo’s attention was drawn to the yard, where Toby was showing off his football skills to a politely attentive Fred. The touch of wistfulness that passed across Leo’s face made Mattie wonder if that was something Fred had ever done with him.

The next several minutes were spent in semi-companionable silence as Leo finished his stew and started on the sandwich whilst Mattie finished her tea. Looking down at her empty cup, she realised she’d forgotten to offer Leo a drink as well.

“I’ll bring you something,” Mattie said, motioning to her mug to explain exactly what she meant. “What would you like?”

Leo glanced sidelong at Mattie for a long moment before he replied, “Whatever you have is fine,” and went back to devouring the rest of his food.

 _Helpful as ever, Leo,_ Mattie thought wryly as she got up and padded into the kitchen.

As Mattie entered, she stopped short, watching as Mia and her mum worked in seamless tandem; Mia unloaded the dishwasher whilst Laura wiped down the counter and the island. Not knowing where to put her dirty cup, Mattie approached Mia tentatively.

“You can set it here on the counter, Mattie,” Mia said, not even needing to look away from her task to know it was her. “I’ll put it in once I’ve finished putting the clean dishes away.”

“Thanks,” she said honestly. Thinking back to that first morning Mia was here and she’d called Anita a slave, Mattie blushed hotly.

True to her nature, Mia turned a kind smile on Mattie and rested a cool, comforting hand over hers. Reading Mattie’s mind just as her mother would have, Mia soothed, “It’s all right,” meeting Mattie’s eye. “You didn’t know.”

“That doesn’t make it all right, though.”

“You’re right, it doesn’t,” Mia agreed, “But you’ve learned from your mistake and are now different because of it.”

“Thanks.”.

“No, thank _you_ ,” Mia replied seriously. “Without your help, Leo would never have found me.”

“I was glad to do it.”

Mia nodded and went back to her task.

“It’s plain to see how much you love Leo. I think he was very lucky to have you as a mum,” Mattie admitted to Mia quietly once her mother had wandered over to the screen door with her tea to watch the goings on in the yard.

As Mia paused and looked over Mattie’s head at the person in question, her eyes softened with both affection and sadness. “Yes and no,” she replied at last.

Mattie looked over her shoulder in Leo’s direction, but he was oblivious to their attention and she shrugged. “I was going to bring him something to drink,” she continued, pulling open the door to the refrigerator. “What do you think he’d like?”

Mia turned and stood behind Mattie, humming in thought as she perused the beverages on offer. Then she plucked a bottle off one of the shelves and placed it in Mattie’s hands with a fond, faraway smile that made Mattie wonder what memory she was replaying. “Grape juice is his favourite,” she explained conspiratorially and handed her one of the clean glasses with a wink.

Once she’d poured out a full glass, Mattie put the bottle back in the fridge and bumped the door closed with her hip. Before she could move further away, Mia whispered in her ear, “Leo is trying to reach out to you, Mattie; at least, in his own awkward way. It’s a new experience for him to trust a human, and sometimes what’s new is frightening. Go easy on him, all right?”

Mattie nodded, a smile playing across her lips at the ridiculous folly of Mia giving her tips on how to _woo_ her “son”.

 _Woo Leo, my arse,_ Mattie thought as she walked back into the family room, biting her cheek to keep from snorting out loud. _I’ll consider it a moral victory if the man strings more than four words together in my presence!_

Leo looked up as the glass clinked against the coffee table. He took one look at its contents and accused, “Mia told you.”

Mattie shrugged one shoulder as if to say, _It’s no big deal,_ and admitted, “Yeah, she did.” Mattie sat back down in her previous spot and asked him, “Is that a problem?”

Leo looked up and met Mattie’s eyes so shyly that she could almost imagine what he would have been like as a little boy. “No.” He picked up the glass and took a sip. His eyes slipped closed in bliss as he savoured the tart sweetness in his mouth…and then his cheekbones reddened when he realised that he had an audience.

In an attempt to put Leo at ease, Mattie started to babble. “You know what? I’m like that when I have my favourite drink, too: apple cider. But it has to be the fresh-squeezed kind, right from the orchard, and you can only get that at certain times of the year—”

“Mattie—” Leo began, but she cut him off, continuing to nervously talk right over him.

“—and then when you warm it up, it’s—”

“Mattie!” Leo interrupted, more firmly this time.

She stopped talking mid-sentence and stared at him.

“I know what apple cider is,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Oh,” Mattie said, feeling stupid. “Of course you do.”

“But thank you,” Leo said, his voice quietly earnest, “for…you know.” He held up the glass of juice as if toasting in her direction and then drank another mouthful.

Mattie felt her own blush return as she looked down at her hands and mumbled, “You’re welcome.”

~*~

Once Leo had finished his meal and set aside the tray, Mattie stood up, drawing his attention.  “Come on,” she said, with a nod of her head toward the hallway door.

Surprisingly, Leo got up to follow her without complaint. “Where are we going?”

“Upstairs.”

Leo frowned, but Mattie turned and started walking, pretending she hadn’t seen. “Why?” he asked, wariness creeping into his voice.

Mattie rolled her eyes, ignored the question, and kept walking.

He caught up to her at the base of the stairs and put a staying hand on her arm. “Why?” Leo repeated.

Mattie turned and glared at him. “Leo, can’t anyone just do something nice for you without getting the third degree?”

That query apparently stunned Leo so much that Mattie was almost at the landing before he followed.

By the time Leo reached the second floor, Mattie had already finished rummaging through the linen cupboard. She turned and shoved two thick, fluffy towels and a facecloth against his chest, forcing him to grasp them to keep the pile of terrycloth from falling to the ground.

“The loo is here,” Mattie said to Leo over her shoulder as she pushed open the door next to her bedroom. “Once you’ve gotten your kit off, you can chuck them out the door. I’ll put everything round and then dig up something for you to wear while you’re waiting for your stuff to get clean.” She crouched down to muck about underneath the sink. “And here’s a toothbrush you can have,” she mentioned as she laid it on the counter. “Do you want a razor to shave with?”

When Leo didn’t answer, she turned to look at him. He hadn’t moved from his place on the landing and stared at Mattie like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Leo?” Mattie asked softly, approaching him slowly so as to not spook him. “Are you all right?”

He stared right through her for a pregnant moment, but then Leo blinked and appeared to focus on her face. “I’m fine,” he replied, although his voice sounded suspiciously hoarse. This time, he followed her back to the bathroom.

Mattie raised one eyebrow skeptically, but went back to her search. When she found an unused disposable razor, she held it up in triumph. “Razor?” she asked again. “Yes or no?”

Mutely, Leo shook his head no.

Mattie shrugged, tossing it to the back of the cupboard and shutting the door. “Suit yourself.”

When she stood back up, she found that Leo hadn’t moved and the troubled look was back. She wondered what was bothering him, but didn’t dare ask.

“Take your time,” she offered, thinking that a long, hot shower would probably be a welcome luxury after all he’d been through recently. “We’ve plenty of hot water. And don’t worry about Max; Mia and I will keep an eye on him for you.”

She aimed what she hoped was a soothing smile at Leo and left the loo, shutting the door behind herself as she went.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry there's been such a long delay in my posting anything new. My work schedule has been insane of late and I've had precious little time to do anything besides eat and sleep!
> 
> I'd wanted to finish this up, but yeah, plot bunnies not helping. Still, I figured a new chapter was better than nothing! 
> 
> Hope you like it! <3

~*~

 

Mattie went downstairs to clear away Leo’s tray, only to find that it was already gone. She suspected it'd been Mia, caring for Leo now as she always had done. So instead, Mattie trudged back upstairs to discover the pile of Leo’s discarded clothes already outside the bathroom door. As she picked them up and put them in her own laundry basket, she heard the water being turned on and the pattern of it drumming against the side of the shower. Before Mattie could think any more on the topic of a naked and wet Leo Elster, she hurried downstairs to start the wash.

“Would you like some help with that?”

Mia’s voice in Mattie’s ear made her startle. _Damn, but Synths were quiet!_ “Uh, no; I’ve got it,” Mattie said as she tilted the basket so that Leo’s clothing slid into the washer of their own accord, “but thank you.” She turned around and gave Mia a friendly smile.

“I’m glad you talked him into showering,” Mia replied, taking the basket and setting it out of the way as Mattie added detergent to the wash. “It’s been a while since he’s been able to have a proper wash.”

“I didn’t exactly talk him into it,” Mattie demurred, biting her lip as she felt the heat of self-consciousness creep up her cheeks.  “I just sort of shoved some towels at him.”

“Still,” Mia continued as Mattie set the machine to run and shut the door. “Leo’s had to go without a lot because of us.”

Mattie nodded; Max had already told her as much _. I’m a burden to him, but he never complains. All he’s ever shown me is love._

“I’m sure being on the run has been difficult,” Mattie agreed. “But he loves you. It’s obvious that he does.”

“I know he does,” Mia's smile was bittersweet as she ran a soothing hand down Mattie’s arm. “After all, we’re all the family he has left.”

~*~

_We’re all the family he has left._

Mia’s words stayed with Mattie as she went back upstairs. It was hard to think of Leo—scruffy, sarcastic, independent Leo—as orphaned, but that’s just what he was. And what was worse, the two people who should have loved him more than anyone else had instead taken their own lives without regard to what would happen to their son in the wake of those decisions.

Mattie nudged open the door to Toby’s room, her mind wandering as she searched his cupboard for some clothes to borrow for Leo. As tragic as it had been, at least Leo’s mother’s mental illness explained away her behaviour. However, David Elster’s actions were another matter altogether. It was telling how few of Leo’s memories that he’d shown Mattie had included his father.

 _He couldn’t care for me, so he made someone who could,_ Leo had said.

 _Not couldn’t,_ Mattie amended mentally. **_Wouldn’t_** _._ David Elster might have been a genius, but it was clear that the technology bumping about in his brain took precedence over his own son in his life.

Sure, David had cared enough to save Leo’s life after his mother had tried to drown him, but he had also doomed his son to living life as a ghost. She wondered if Elster had even considered what that might do to Leo. To the world, Leo had died at the age of 13 and any claim otherwise would have forced Elster to reveal the life-saving illegal modifications he’d performed on his son.  So, like the conscious Synths, he’d hidden Leo away, further isolating him from the rest of the world and leaving him ill-equipped to cope with his future amongst the humans…and as far as Mattie was concerned, that was selfish and inexcusable.

She’d idolised David Elster once, back when she’d first gotten into programming and headcracking. But knowing what she now knew? If she had the opportunity to meet the robotics legend now (however impossible), she’d punch him right in the nose for hurting Leo like that.

Leo had been right about one thing, though: just because she’d seen some of his memories did not mean that she understood him; though admittedly, she wished he’d open up to her more so that she could.

Mattie snorted to herself as she finally located a clean pair of sweatpants that looked like they might fit Leo. _Fat chance of that happening,_ Mattie bemoaned mentally _. That man’s got more prickles than a porcupine._

She plucked a white shirt from the top of Toby’s clean clothes pile and shook out the wrinkles to check it for size, imagining the cotton draped over Leo’s torso. She shrugged. If anything, it would probably be big on him, but too big was better than too small, Mattie mused.

Mattie set the clothes she’d picked out across the bottom of Toby’s unmade bed and bent down to search the floor of his cupboard. There was _no way_ she was subjecting Leo to a pair of Toby’s already-worn Y fronts, freshly washed or no. Mattie shivered at the thought of that cruel and unusual punishment.

“Aha!” she said aloud, pulling an unopened package of pants from beneath a pile of jeans that appeared to be in various stages of cleanliness. _The things I do for you, Leo Elster,_ Mattie bemoaned as she used her foot to give the pile of denim a disgusted shove.

Her quest finally complete, Mattie headed toward the closed door of the loo.

~*~

Mattie was more than a bit surprised that the water wasn’t still running in the shower. She would have thought that Leo would’ve taken advantage of the rare luxury and—Mattie glanced at the clock on her desk in her room and startled— _Oh_. Apparently it’d been almost a half hour since she’d left him in the loo.

 _Great job, Matts,_ she scolded herself, _Leo’s probably been shivering his bollocks off in there whilst you’ve been off woolgathering! Fantastic hosting skills_ …

On a sigh, she lifted her hand and rapped on the privy door with her knuckles. “Leo?”

No answer.

“Leo?” she tried again, “it’s Mattie. I brought your change of clothes…”

Still nothing.

Mattie’s eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. She couldn’t imagine that Leo “I Hide Inside Thirty Layers of Clothes” Elster would be wandering about the house in nothing but a towel wrap, no matter how worried about Max he might be.

But if he was still in there…why wasn’t he answering the door?

Her answer came in the form of a single shivered gasp and a barely audible sniffle.

 _What the?_ Mattie thought in surprise. _Was Leo… **crying**?_

Unsure of what to do, Mattie’s hand hovered over the doorknob. She was torn between giving Leo privacy to deal with his demons on his own and wanting to somehow help him through them.

In the end, it hadn’t been such a difficult decision after all. Leo’s sniffle morphed into a barely-stifled sob and Mattie had acted on instinct, wrenching open the bathroom door and shutting it behind her.

Clad in only the towel wrap, the rest of Leo’s pale skin glistened with the moisture it had attracted from the still-steamy air of the room. His nearly-black wavy hair was still wet enough for it to shed tiny rivulets of water down his neck. As their eyes met, Mattie’s heart began to pound. _How was it that she had never noticed that Leo Elster was freaking gorgeous!?_

Leo’s eyes widened almost comically in the split second it took for his synthetic brain to register the identity of his intruder before he turned away from her, surreptitiously trying to wipe the damning moisture away from his eyes and cheeks.

But it was too late; Mattie had seen his tears. “Leo,” she said hesitantly, setting the nearly forgotten clothing on the sink counter before she approached him like she would a skittish horse. Hesitantly, she laid a hand against the warm dampness of his back. “Are you all right?”

Leo cleared his throat and then croaked, “I’m fine,” though not very convincingly. At least, it wasn’t to Mattie.

“You’re not fine,” she corrected firmly. When he didn’t turn back to face her again, Mattie started to trace a soothing pattern against his shoulder with her fingertips. “Would you like me to get Mia for you? Perhaps she could help.”

“No,” Leo blurted out with a vehemence that surprised Mattie. “Please don’t,” he pleaded as he turned to face her, inadvertently breaking the skin-to-skin contact she’d initiated.

“Why not? If she’s like a mother to you, it’s likely she’d know how to make you feel better.”

“No,” Leo replied, this time adding the motion of shaking his head. “I can’t. Not about this.”

“But why can’t you…?” Mattie began before her brain caught up to her mouth. _Oh._ Leo couldn’t talk to Mia about what was bothering him because he was afraid whatever it was would hurt her…and like Leo, Mia could not forget. He was trying to spare her the burden of pain from his thoughts.

“Please don’t tell her,” Leo said again, grasping Mattie gently by her upper arms.

“I won’t,” Mattie vowed, reaching out to hold Leo’s arms in the same manner. “I promise.”

Leo let out a shuddering sigh of relief and released Mattie’s arms to rub a hand down his face.

In that moment, Leo looked so world-weary, beaten down, and vulnerable that Mattie just couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him alone. She tightened her grip around Leo’s biceps. “Tell me,” she urged, staring up into his face almost defiantly, as if daring him to argue.

“What?” Leo said, his eyebrows rising in obvious surprise.

“Tell me instead,” she repeated.

“It wouldn't be fair of me to ask that of you, Mattie,” Leo said at last, his lips a thin pursed line of stress and worry.

Mattie couldn’t help but notice that his answer wasn’t exactly a no, and it gave her hope. “You didn’t ask; I’m offering. Sometimes it helps just to get things off your chest. Trust me, I know. And I’m human, so there’s none of that pesky ‘never being able to forget anything’ stuff to worry about…”

“Besides,” she reasoned, "that’s what friends do for each other, isn’t it?” Mattie held her breath and waited to be shot down again.

Leo looked hopelessly wrong-footed as he answered wistfully, “I wouldn’t know.”

Mattie decided right then and there that it was a _really_ good thing that David Elster was already dead, because otherwise she’d want to kill him.

“Well, they do,” Mattie informed Leo matter-of-factly as she slid her hand down his arm until she could thread her fingers between his.

“And we’re friends now, so you’re going to sit down here and tell me what’s wrong.” She tugged at Leo’s hand gently and he compliantly followed her to the low wooden bench near the shower that Sophie often used and-at Mattie’s urging-sat down next to her.

“We are not friends,” Leo denied, albeit pretty feebly for his normally caustic self. “We barely know each other.”

Mattie aimed one sarcastic eyebrow in Leo’s direction and accused, “And whose fault is that?”

He shrugged one shoulder half-heartedly as if in acknowledgement that she was right, but didn’t want to admit it out loud.

“Besides, we’ve been gallivanting all over London together, saving sentient Synths from super-secret spy people. I think that entitles me to an upgrade.”

“It wasn’t exactly _gallivanting_ …” Leo qualified.

“No, most of it was you being either half-dead or creepy, to be honest.” Mattie leaned into Leo and playfully nudged at his shoulder with her own. He snorted and tried (but didn’t quite succeed) to bite back a smile.

“’M not creepy…” Leo groused, still biting his lip as he stared moodily at their entwined fingers.

“I know,” Mattie confessed softly as her thumb rubbed a soothing pattern on the back of Leo’s hand. When he didn’t protest, she carefully rested her head against his shoulder. Leo initially stiffened at the contact, but when nothing else happened, his shoulders lost their tension and he slumped heavily against the wall as if all the fight had drained from him.

“Tell me,” Mattie murmured, barely above a whisper. “Please, Leo; let me help you.”

Leo’s head made a little _thunk_ against the tiles as he tilted it back to stare at the ceiling.

“Leo…”

Mattie’s breath caught in her throat as Leo’s fingers finally tightened around hers and he leant his cheek against the top of her head, accepting the comfort she was offering at last. Rather than hearing it, she felt Leo's answer as his breath ghosted against her scalp, “Okay.”


End file.
